India will have a tricky decision to make if they continue to dig in on the final day at Old Trafford and come away with a creditable draw.
Because although they keep saying that Jasprit Bumrah will play only three Tests in this five-match series – and this, don’t forget, is his third – the series could still be alive when the teams arrive at The Oval next week.
Clearly, if India lose and go 3–1 down, they can give Bumrah and probably Mohammed Siraj, who has played all four games so far, a rest for the final game. But if they escape Manchester only 2–1 down, are they really going to leave out their greatest match-winner with the ball?
I know people are saying that India have lost the two games Bumrah has played in and won the one he missed, with Siraj and Akash Deep bowling India to victory in the second Test at Edgbaston. But there are a lot of things that go into losing a game of cricket, and I don’t think you can honestly say Bumrah’s bowling was one of the causes of the tourists’ defeats at Headingley and Lord’s.
Don’t forget, he took a first-innings five-for in both those games, and his overall tally in this series of 14 wickets at 26 is better than any of his colleagues.
It’s possible that someone like Siraj steps up a bit more in Bumrah’s absence, because he’s the kind of character who likes to be the leader of the attack. We occasionally saw the same dynamic between Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, whose most famous spell of eight for 15 against Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015 came when Anderson was out injured.
But I honestly think it’s a coincidence that India are yet to win a game this summer with Bumrah in their side.
So now they may find themselves having to make that big call for the final Test. Ideally, they bring in fresh legs, because it’s been a gruelling five-match series, with each of the games so far going to the last day, and the pitches offering the bowlers precious little all the way through. But are you honestly saying you’re not going to try to get one final game out of your strike bowler?
It’s true that in this match, for the first time I can remember, Bumrah didn’t make the best use of the new ball, bowling too straight at Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, when a fifth- or sixth-stump line is where you want to aim against these England batters.
It looked as if India were trying to get Duckett lbw, which is an unusual dismissal at Old Trafford because of the bounce. How many have fallen leg-before in this game? One: Shubman Gill to Ben Stokes in India’s first innings.
And, of course, the stat doing the rounds was that Bumrah had conceded 100 in a Test innings for the first time, in what is his 48th Test.
But you always have to bear in mind at Old Trafford that, even when you expect the pitch to go up and down a bit, or deteriorate for the spinners, it rarely becomes a minefield. That’s why England got 660 on it. And that’s why Test cricket is such a magnificent game: you have to work for your success.
India looked dead on their feet when they walked off on Friday evening, but Bumrah recovered pretty well on the fourth morning, relocating his length and bowling Liam Dawson.
You don’t stop being a champion bowler overnight, and India will just be hoping they’re forced into a difficult decision come The Oval.
